Improvement in hydraulic presses



J. WATSON. Hydraulic-Press.

No. 222,554. Patented Dec. 9, 1879.

Fig. 2.

AT E IN VENTORI %W%m, Ma, [6W

MPETERS. PNOTO-LITHOGRAPNER. WASHINGTON. D c.

'UITED STATES PATENT OFFIoE.

JAMES \VATSON, OF LONDON, ASSIGNOR TO \VILLIAM THOMPSON MANN, JAMES GREGSON CHAPMAN, ALFRED CHAPMAN, HENRY SHIELD, AND ALEXANDER SPEIRS, OF LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND.

IMPROVEMENT IN HYDRAULIC PRESSES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 222,55 dated December 9, 1879; application-filed October 18, 1819; patented in British India, February 17, 1879.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES -WATSON, of London, England, have invented or discovered certain new and useful Improvements applicable to Hydraulic Presses; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereonthat is to say:

The object of this invention is to obtain an increase in the working speed or out-turn of hydraulic presses.

The invention has reference particularly to presses in which the preliminary pressure upon a bale of cotton or other material is produced by small bottom rams, and then, after a blocking apparatus has been inserted below the bale, the final or finishing pressure is given by two top rams.

The improvements chiefly consist of particular arrangements or modes of working such presses.

The pumps hitherto always used for workin g such presses are horizontal and work from an eccentric-shaft, the pumps on one side of this shaft being used for pumping up the bottom rams, while those on the other side of the shaft are used for pumping the top rams. Thus the bottom rams of one press and the top rams of another press are being worked at the same time. I now arrange the connections between the pumps and presses in such manner that the whole pump power can be put onto one set of rams instead of onto two sets, as before, thus doing the pumping of each separate set of rams in about half the time, and giving the men at the presses double the time to do their part of the work; or, in other words, increasing the out-turn by keeping the pumps always at their legitimate work and preventing them pumping unprofitablythrough the safety-valve.

Time and fuel are thus saved The invention will be understood by the following description of working, say, two presses with a set of ten pumps, such as are now in use in working two of these presses. The two presses have each two small rams of, say, fifteen to sixteen feet stroke for preliminary pressure, and two larger rams for the finishing pressure.

In working with five pumps on the bottom rams and five pumps on the top rams, as in the ordinary way of working, it takes about forty seconds to pump up the bottom rams, and the same time for the top rams, so that the men filling the box of press No. l have just got the time it takes to pump up the bot tom rams of press No. 2 (or forty seconds) to fill their box; butas this is not done under eighty seconds, the men at No. 1 are not ready for the pumps in time, and consequently the pumps during the other fort-y seconds are pumping through the safety-valve. The same thing takes place with the top rams; but according to my arrangement or mode of working, all the ten pumps are put first on the bottom rams of No. 1, then on the bottom rams of No. 2, then on the top rams of No. l, and then on the top rams of No. 2. Thus it will be seen that each set of rams will rise in about halt the time they do in the old mode of working, or, say, twenty-two seconds; therefore the men filling the box at No. 1 will have the time required for pumping the bottom rams of No. 2, the top rams of No. 1 and the top rams of No. 2, or, say, sixty six seconds. Add to this the time for manipulating three sets of valves instead of one set, as in the old method-say, ten seconds more, making in all about seventysix seconds. The box at No. 1 will therefore be ready for the pumps, and all the waste of time and fuel, as already explained, will be saved.

In making a set of four presses, where eighteen or twenty pumps are used, the rams can be run separately one after another with the whole pump power, as already explained, or the pumps may he worked half for two presses and the other half for other two press es, exactly as already explained; or the whole number of pumps may be worked first on the bottom rams of two presses, Nos. 1 and 2, then the bottom rams of two presses, Nos. 3 and 4, then top rams of Nos. 1 and 2, and top rams of Nos. 3 and 4; or all the pumps on one side of the shaft, say, ten, can be worked in one main, viz.: the existing main in presses now in use by introducing an extra T-piece at each press to carry the water from the main to the top or bottom rams, as the case may be, or any more modification of this.

In applying the invention to existing presses where all the connections between the pumps and rains are already made, I prefer to make a connection or connections between the two mains or pipes leading from the two sets of pumps. The whole of the water from both sets of pumps can thus be forced to the bottom rams or to the top rams of either press, as required, for the new mode of working, instead of, as heretofore, one set of pumps being connected only with the bottom rams, and the other set only with the top rams.

In constructing new presses, either the two mains can be made as before, but with the necessary connection between them; or the two mains can be united in a single main on the press side of the said connection, and an extra T-piece be introduced at each press.

The annexed drawings represent the manper in which my invention can be carried into effect. Figure 1 showsasetoftenpumps,such as have hitherto been used for working, say, two presses, pp. 1; is the main, such as has hitherto been used for working the bottom rams of the two presses from tive of the pumps a a a a a, and c the main, such as has been used for working the top ruins of such presses from the other five pumps (1 a a a a. I eonneet these two mains at one or both ends (preferably both) by means of a pipe, (I. In this manner, according to the opening of the valves, all the ten pumps are put upon the bottom rain or the top rain of either of the two presses, p p, as hereinbefore explained, to carry out the new mode of workin For new plant, I prefer to employ the connection 0?, (shown in Fig. 2,) with one pipe, e, leading therefrom to the presses, and in this case there will be two T-pieces on such pipe 0 at each press, as shown in Fig. 3-that is to say, one T-piece, 9, (corresponding with the T-piece on the pipe I), Fig. 1,) to the bottom rams, and another, h, (corresponding with the T-piece on the pipe 0, Fig. 1,) to the top rams. When, for a set of-say, four-presses, all the pumpssay, ten-on one side of the shaft are worked in one main, and the pumps on the other side in another main, as hereinbefore referred to, there will likewise be two T-pieces at each press to carry the water from the main to the top or bottom ram, as the case may be.

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

l. The mode of working hydraulic presses, as herein set forththat is to say. making the connections between hydraulic presses and their pumps in such manner that the whole of the available pumping power can be applied at will to the bottom rams or to the top rams, substantially as and for the purpose hereinbefore described.

2. In combination with the main 1) from the one set of pumps, a, and with the main cfrom the other set of pumps, a, the connection at between said mains, for enabling the power of both sets of pumps to be applied at once either upon the bottom rams or upon the top rams of any one of two or more presses, as required, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

In witness whereof I, the said J AMES WAT- soN, have hereunto set my hand this 30th day of June, 1879.

JAMES WATSON. Vt'itnesses J. 0. NEWBURN, Gno. O. BACON. 

